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Ben Mackenzie

@dumbposts.net
303 followers 803 following 406 posts

a3poify on other places, formerly @bmack0 on Twitter Hail majestic corporate light, heaven born and ever bright. Irk the purists. Turn on “require alt text before posting” in the accessibility settings.

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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 31/07/2026
Playing my latest charity shop find. Not what I’d usually expect to have found in Huntingdon but I had to get it!
A photo of a turntable playing a record, next to the sleeve of They Might Be Giants’s debut album
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 15/06/2026
Sitting in the choir seats at the Albert Hall, so close enough to pick up Internet Will Happen, which I’m really, really hoping is Elvis Costello and his band’s backstage WiFi hotspot with the worst pun name on Accidents Will Happen imaginable
A list of WiFi names at the Albert Hall featuring one called Internet Will Happen
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 04/06/2026
£20 to sit this close to Bill Bruford tonight is what I call a fantastic deal
Drum kit at the Bear Club in Luton.
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 15/02/2026
They famously did - during this period in the mid 1990s Elton and Luciano could frequently be seen eating out of a bucket, running around a big field and defecating in full view of passing motorists and pedestrians
A photograph of Elton John and Luciano Pavarotti. Pavarotti is pointing at something and Elton is looking. Above them it says “Elton John and Luciano Pavarotti: Live Like Horses”
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 12/01/2026
Absolutely horrible to hear the news about Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin (ex-Black Midi). Never got to see them live while he was in the band but from live recordings the dual-guitar attack was absolutely fierce. Rest in peace. www.instagram.com/p/DTaf9tJiAoL/
It is with deep sadness that we as a family regret to inform you that Matthew Kwasniewski-Kelvin has died after a long battle with his mental health.
A talented musician and a kind, loving young man finally succumbed;
despite all efforts. Matt was 26 years old.
He will always be loved.
Please take a moment to check in with your loved ones so we can stop this happening to our young men.
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 25/11/2025
My Bloody Valentine at Wembley tonight is the first show I’ve ever gone to where they were basically forcing earplugs into your hand on the door. Literally people standing at every entrance with a sack of foam earplugs giving them to you.
Sign at Wembley Arena for My Bloody Valentine
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 18/11/2025
Clay Higgins is the 1 nay - from BBC:
Republican votes no, says bill will hurt innocent peoplepublished at 19:55
19:55

We've just heard that Republican US Representative Clay Higgins was the sole no vote for the bipartisan bill, which passed 427-1.

A social media post on his X account says: "I have been a principled 'NO' on this bill from the beginning".

He says the bill "reveals and injures thousands of innocent people – witnesses, people who provided alibis, family members, etc".

Higgins continues by saying "if enacted in its current form, this type of broad reveal of criminal investigative files, released to a rabid media, will absolutely result in innocent people being hurt".

He is a member of the House Committee on Oversight and says it is "conducting a thorough investigation that has already released well over 60,000 pages of documents from the Epstein case".

"That effort will continue in a manner that provides all due protections for innocent Americans," he says.

Higgins adds that he will vote for the bill when it comes back to the House, but only if the Senate amends the bill "to properly address privacy of victims and other Americans, who are named but not criminally implicated".
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 24/07/2025
#BleakTrivia
Trivia card:
The Arts and Music: Of which successful group was Phil Lynott, who died of a drug overdose on January 4, 1986, a member?
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 28/06/2025
Just discovered my review has become the pull quote for when the Rate Your Music page for Around The World by Red Hot Chili Peppers appears on a Google search (this is from my 0.5 star review, by the way)
Rate Your Music review for Around The World by the Red Hot Chili Peppers on Google: 23 Aug 1999 - Around The World sounds like a parody of a Red Hot Chili Peppers song, except it's not a parody and it's actually one of their most well known songs. 

The single has an average rating of 3.2 out of 5 somehow, even though it's fucking DREADFUL.
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 19/06/2025
1) Swans - Birthing While it’s not going to win over any new fans who didn’t like their past material, Birthing hones their sound, adding new elements and making the old ones shine even brighter. It’s one of the best ways you could spend 2 hours this year.
Swans - Birthing album cover
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 19/06/2025
2) Lost Crowns - The Heart is in the Body If you’ve ever wished Cardiacs were even more melodically confusing, impenetrable and yet just as rewarding, Lost Crowns are here. Some of the most intriguing, complex and wonderful music I’ve ever heard!
Lost Crowns - The Heart is in the body album cover
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 19/06/2025
3) Stratford Rise - Stratford Rise Cheating a little as this is a 14 minute EP but when it’s some of the most unrelenting, experimental and fascinating noise rock I’ve heard this year I couldn’t ignore it. Stratford Rise take early Black Midi, turn up the noise and pummel you senseless with it.
Cover for Stratford Rise - Stratford Rise
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 19/06/2025
4) Pulp - More After 24 years (give or take a single in the middle) Pulp come back older, wiser, but not missing a step at all musically. Holds up very well to their other albums and a very welcome entry in their discography.
Album cover for Pulp- More
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 19/06/2025
5) Steven Wilson - The Overview The master of modern prog returns with one of his better efforts of recent years. Two 20 minute tracks combining the best elements of his recent electronic work with some of the more rock and progressive parts of his classic Porcupine Tree and solo albums.
Cover for Steven Wilson - The Overview
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 15/06/2025
Vaping at shows has gotten out of hand
Photo of Evian Christ performing at the Barbican last night, with extremely heavy use of the fog machinePhoto of the Barbican after the performance, with a thick haze of fog obscuring view beyond a few metres
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 28/05/2025
I’ve long thought the tracklist to Tears For Fears’ The Seeds Of Love is one of the most achingly pretentious looking tracklists of all time. Roland Orzabal definitely thought he was doing a Big Thing here. And to be fair, he was.
A1
Woman in Chains
6:30

A2
Badman's Song
8:32

A3
Sowing the Seeds of Love
6:16

A4
Advice for the Young at Heart
4:52

B1
Standing on the Corner of the Third World
5:30

B2
Swords and Knives
6:14

B3
Year of the Knife
7:06

B4
Famous Last Words
4:23
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 16/05/2025
My attachment to old Audacity is going to feel like this when 4 releases

CHANGES IN VERSION 10.17:
THE CPU NO LONGER OVERHEATS WHEN YOU HOLD DOWN SPACEBAR.
COMMENTS:

LONGTIMEUSER4 WRITES:
THIS UPDATE BROKE MY WORKFLOW!
MY CONTROL KEY IS HARD TO REACH, SO I HOLD SPACEBAR INSTEAD, AND I CONFIGURED EMACS TO INTERPRET A RAPID TEMPERATURE RISE AS "CONTROL".

ADMIN WRITES:
THAT'S HORRIFYING.

LONGTIMEUSER4 WRITES:
LOOK, MY SETUP WORKS FOR ME.
JUST ADD AN OPTION TO REENABLE
SPACEBAR HEATING.


EVERY CHANGE BREAKS SOMEONES WORKFLOW.
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 25/04/2025
made this years ago after being hit by a lightning bolt of inspiration at work
I PLAY GUITAR IN BLACK FLAG, BUT WHEN I'M AT HOME I COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT MY GREG GINN BREAD BIN

Yes, for the middle-aged punk in us all, Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn has introduced his very own bread bin! "Rise Above" the dangers of mould and staleness by protecting your bread with the Greg Ginn Bread Bin's protective cover! Only £35.99 plus postage and packing!
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 18/04/2025
The phrase "If it aint thick, I'm sick" is a British slang saying that means if something is not thick (e.g., a drink, food, or a situation), it's not good enough; in other words, it is not what you want or that you are unsatisfied with. The word "sick" in this context, however, doesn't mean ill. Instead, it's used to express disapproval or a feeling of being unsatisfied, similar to saying something is "awful" or "not right".
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 17/04/2025
Michael Gira and Kristof Hahn tonight. Earplugs in.
A stage with three amplifiers, a slide guitar, a microphone, an acoustic guitar and a stool.
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 04/04/2025
Has anyone posted the NFT Trump was selling a few years back yet
Trump, fists raised in the air, wearing a red cap that says DOW, stands in front of a stock chart going upwards with a rocket that appears to say TRUMP at the end so it looks like the rocket's trail. There's also some stock price info in the background with a lot of green upward arrows
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 31/03/2025
I can’t say I’m NOT a bit scared.
My Bloody Valentine ticket confirmation email
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 27/03/2025
Spiritualized’s stage setup at the Barbican tonight
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 16/03/2025
Every time if you scroll down on these accounts you can see them catching themselves out trying to reply to something it's impossible to have a take on
Post from Far Side Calendar, showing a Gary Larson strip (the actual content not relevant to the discussion) with the post "#TheFarSide by Gary Larson, est. #comic publication:1984-86, series run: 1979-93 & 2017-23

Reply/debate bot Goshic replies: Nothing political to disagree with, just a statement about a comic publication.
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 14/03/2025
I love the concept that someone would open Audacity and get so overwhelmed by file recovery that they would choose to immediately quit again
Audacity automatic crash recovery dialogue featuring buttons "Quit Audacity", "Discard Selected", "Recover Selected" and "Skip"
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 12/03/2025
Just discovered Al Stewart’s wine-based concept album. No real desire to listen to it but my world is a little brighter just knowing it exists
The cover to Al Stewart’s Down in the Cellar, showing Stewart, a man in his mid-50s, leaning on a cabinet in front of a rack with dozens of bottles of wine, a glass of red on a table next to him.1 - Waiting for Margaux
2 - Tasting History
3 - Down in the Cellars
4 - Turning It Into Water
5 - Soho
6 - The Night That the Band Got the Wine
7 - Millie Brown
8 - Under a Wine-Stained Moon
9 - Franklin’s Table
10 - House of Clocks
11 - Sergio
12 - Toutes les étoiles
13 - The Shiraz Shuffle
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 27/02/2025
ROYAL O’REILLY TENENBAUM
1932 - 2001
DIED TRAGICALLY RESCUING HIS FAMILY FROM THE WRECKAGE OF A DESTROYED SINKING BATTLESHIP
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 14/02/2025
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 08/02/2025
I don't know what to tell you Wikipedia. That second one isn't shorter at all
Sony Entertainment Network (shortened as SEN or 3D World Created by Sony,
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 30/01/2025
Apple Music struggling to differentiate between suicidal ideation and wanting to hear Brian Wilson's song from Police Academy 4
An Apple Music search for Let's Go To Heaven In My Car with the message "If you or someone you know needs help, support is available"
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 29/01/2025
Getting tickets for big gigs is one of the worst experiences I put myself through a few times a year
ine Inch Nails
The O2 arena. London,
18/06/2025
When the waiting room opens, you will be assigned a random place in the queue alongside everyone else who also arrives. There is no way to bypass the waiting room. If you refresh this page and have more than one tab open you may be identified as a bot and blocked from buying tickets. Please stay in one window on one device.
Find out more about AXS Official Resale and AXS Mobile ID HERE (don’t worry - you won’t lose your place in the waiting room)
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 28/01/2025
I mean how can you even DREAM of closing this beautiful place
Marquee at the Prince Charles Cinema reading “David Lynch Forever”Schedule for the Prince Charles Cinema today: Chungking Express, The Elephant Man, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Nickel Boys, All About My Mother, Modern Romance, Enter the Void, Queer
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 25/01/2025
Just found out Elon Musk's sister directs exclusively awful-looking romance/erotic drama movies
Letterboxd screenshot of films directed by Tosca Musk, which are all awful looking romance movies including nine in a series about someone called Gabriel
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 20/01/2025
Slightly more than weekly listening 13-20th January
David Bowie - A New Career In A New Town (1977 - 1982)
David Bowie - 1. Outside (The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper Cycle) 
They Might Be Giants - Lincoln
Squid - O Monolith
The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute
Lou Reed - Berlin
Lou Reed - Street Hassle
The Residents - God in Three Persons
John Cale - Paris 1919 (Deluxe Edition)
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 17/01/2025
worst 1-2 comment punch of all time from the Apple Vision Pro subreddit
Top comment:
"One day, we'll die. And not knowing what comes after, if anything at all, we should all live our lives maximizing our happiness. I think being on the bleeding edge of technology is a proper trade off for the price tag!"

Reply:
"Not trolling but I think you'd be a great candidate for ayahuasca. There's a great sub here, and you can message me if you like. Good luck on your journey."
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 12/01/2025
Weekly listening, 6-12th January
Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter
SAVED!

Manic Street Preachers
Journal for Plague Lovers

Pink Floyd
The Final Cut

Lou Reed
The Blue Mask

The Streets
Original Pirate Material

Cardiacs
Archive

Peter Gabriel
I/O

Franz Ferdinand
The Human Fear

Frank Zappa
Burnt Weeny Sandwich
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 10/01/2025
Bit late but just discovered the period when Mike Read lost the thread a bit in the late 00s and started making art out of confectionery #totp
An... intriguing image created by ex-BBC radio DJ Mike Read depicting "queues of hopefuls lined up to audition for ITV1 talent show The X Factor" with the contestants represented by sweet packets
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 08/01/2025
Need an internet community for people who are fans of Frank Zappa and have never negatively described something or someone as “woke” because my GOD are a lot of his fans the most annoying people in the world. Bobby Brown Goes Down is not some great work of anti-woke satire.
Reddit comment:

Bobby Brown is just a fictional character. It's not the voice of Zappa. It's the voice of Bobby Brown. I love it. Especially in the face of modern wokeness, lines like "women's liberation came creeping across the nation" is just awesome.
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 07/01/2025
“Idea for a program… The One Show for dogs, with Clare Balding”
Alan Partridge talking into his tape recorder
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 03/01/2025
Who else is out here *cough* *cough* *30-second coughing fit* honkin' on bobo
cover for aerosmith's album honkin' on bobo which i have less than zero interest in hearing because 
1) it's an aerosmith album
2) the content cannot be as funny as the title
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 31/12/2024
Anyone else doing the Grinding 1970s Germany Heroin And Depression double bill at the Prince Charles
Berlin Live at St. Ann's Warehouse
Sat 11 Jan 2025 at 6:20 p.m.
Screen 2 Upstairs
Seats: E11Christiane F.
Sat 11 Jan 2025 at 8:30 p.m.
Screen 2 Upstairs
Seats: E10
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 28/12/2024
You can’t just SAY that, Schwartz website.
Page on the official Schwartz website:

DID YOU KNOW?

Basil has a strong history of reverence and loathing. Its name is Greek for “King” and it is revered as a sacred herb in the Hindu religion. However, in Europe during the Middle Ages it was believed that scorpions would breed under pots of Basil and just to smell Basil would form a scorpion in the brain. Basil is known as the tomato herb because of their affinity. There are over 150 varieties of Basil.
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 27/12/2024
Without downloading any new pics, what’s your energy going into 2025?
Iron Chef screenshot with caption “Well, I can’t tell what this is, but it’s good.”
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 27/12/2024
Found the quote (using Apple Podcasts transcription so not perfect)
“But the irony is that you can't stand Christmas.

No, I'm not all that keen on it. I don't think I don't know anyone who does except young children.

What's your ideal Christmas, then? I mean, what don't you like about it? Where would you like to be?

I'd like to go down to Anderson Shelter and wait for it to blow over.”“You must have loved it as a boy, though. I mean, you must have loved all... Did you get lots of presents?

You were an only child. Your mother absolutely adored you. Yes.

Didn't you love it?

Yes, I remember I felt very spoiled because the old idea was that you hung up a stocking, but I hung up a pillowcase, which was a great sack full of stuff. Very spoiled child. And I think my dad used to tiptoe in and put the stuff in on his way to the milk round at the crack of dawn, because he used to have to start work even earlier on Christmas day to get home in time for the midday meal, which was murder.

I didn't get days off in those days. Not like all these slackers today.

Were books your favorite presents, therefore?

No, not a bit. I hated books, actually. I can always remember feeling a parcel and then finding that hollow concave edge down one side and thinking, Oh God, it's a book.”
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 26/12/2024
Put on a random Top of the Pops Christmas special and ended up giving myself All of us Strangers flashbacks
Frankie Goes to Hollywood doing The Power of Love on Christmas 1984’s Top of the Pops
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 14/12/2024
Now playing: an album I feel is criminally underrated and underdiscussed. His last truly great album until the 2000s for me. Possibly a little overlong at 84 minutes but has some of his best songs (this, Idol, Tonight)
Someone’s Final Song from Elton John’s Blue Moves
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 13/12/2024
“Tony, I keep telling you, people are just not *that* bothered about ID cards. Let it go.”
A photo of Cherie and Tony Blair’s Christmas card. Tony looks alarmingly angry and Cherie appears to be holding him back
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 07/12/2024
I did a mashup because I noticed some similarity between Nate Dogg's bits on Regulate and one of the guitar parts on Need You Tonight by INXS. I should probably stop noticing things.
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 04/12/2024
Spotify, one of us doesn’t know what Krautrock means and I don’t think it’s me
Cherub Rock by the Smashing Pumpkins on Spotify’s Krautrock playlist
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Ben Mackenzie @dumbposts.net · 02/12/2024
My inevitable top 50 albums ever of all time etc list
Apologies for any OCR weirdness:

Stevie Wonder — Songs in the Key of Life 
Cardiacs — Sing to God
The Beatles — Magical Mystery Tour 
Lal & Mike Waterson — Bright Phoebus 
The Beach Boys — Pet Sounds
Prefab Sprout — Jordan: The Comeback 
The Beach Boys — The SMiLE Sessions
Genesis — The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway 
Nine Inch Nails — The Fragile
The Beatles — The Beatles (White Album)


Radiohead — Kid A
Prince — Sign "0" The Times
Brian Eno — Another Green World
Peter Gabriel — Peter Gabriel 3: Melt 
Dismemberment Plan — Emergency & I 
BLACK MIDI — Hellfire
The Beach Boys — Love You
Robert Wyatt — Rock Bottom
Pet Shop Boys — Introspective
John Prine — John Prine

The Mountain Goats — All Hail West Texas
Pink Floyd — Wish You Were Here 
Talking Heads — Remain in Light 
Kate Bush — Hounds of Love
Vince Guaraldi Trio — A Charlie Brown Christmas
David Bowie — Low
Fleetwood Mac — Tusk
Donald Fagen — The Nightfly
John Coltrane — The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording
Mike Oldfield — Ommadawn

This Heat — Made Available: John Peel Sessions 
Songs: Ohia — The Magnolia Electric Co.
U2 — Achtung Baby
Prefab Sprout — Swoon
Pulp — Different Class
Nine Inch Nails — The Downward Spiral 
The Beach Boys — Smiley Smile
King Crimson — Larks' Tongues in Aspic 
Todd Rundgren — A Wizard / A True Star 
Beastie Boys — Paul's Boutique

The Beatles — Revolver 
King Crimson — Red
The Beatles — Abbey Road 
David Bowie — 1. Outside 
Richard Dawson — Nothing Important
Frank Zappa — Apostrophe(‘)
David Bowie — The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars 
XTC — Skylarking
Coil — The Ape of Naples
The Zombies — Odessey and Oracle
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